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distance between Olean and Cincinnati." Now, tracing an imaginary route on the map with his finger, "it is also a long distance from Cincinnati to Chicago and a shorter
distance from Chicago to Milwaukee."
At Pittsburgh, the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers joined forming the Ohio. Lucretia looking at the steep bluffs rising above the narrow point of flat land between
the rivers was glad she was not to settle here. Sixty-three miles down the river, Wheeling loomed on the left bank. The boat continued on it's way with Asa in deep discussion…"last Sabbath," he said for
others were listening "I heard a good sermon on the value of religion to comfort in a dying hour. I read God's holy word daily. It makes one wise to eternal life." all the men were solemn and thoughtful
for they wished to be good Christians in their new homes.
On awakening one morning, Colonel Kinney discovered the boat had at last arrived at Cincinnati during the night. He was fascinated. Littler boats were
being loaded with notions to peddle from one settlement to another along the banks of the Ohio. Flatboats like the one from Olean were carrying families and farm produce toward the Mississippi. All the bustle and
activity was exciting and Asa Kinney was sorry to leave the scene.
Disembarking from the flatboat, the Colonel, his wife and children with Rachel and her husband continued their journey going overland from
Cincinnati to Chicago. There, Rachel and her husband separated and settled on a farm near Freedom (now Harding), Illinois.
Asa Kinney and his family arrived in Milwaukee by schooner from Chicago on July 3,
1836 and settled at Oak Creek, Wisconsin two days later. The Colonel soon engaged in farming.
On September 21, Asa buried his second wife in the Oak Creek cemetery. He wrote his relatives in Homer, New
York…"Lucretia's last illness was brought on by over effort. The baby Freelove is very ill and will not live." The baby did live but Colonel Kinney never wrote home that she was alive for his sister Rachel
took the frail child to raise as her own on the Illinois farm belonging to her husband and herself.
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A "Father" of Wisconsin
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When Asa Kinney arrived in Wisconsin it was a territory with the Missouri River as the western boundary. Two years later, the boundaries were fixed permanently. The Black Hawk War had
called attention to the natural resources of Wisconsin and Asa Kinney with many others from New York and Ohio had migrated west to share in the state's wealth. The west stood for democracy, equality and opportunity
for all, a lure to eastern people. They wanted land which was both cheap and good. The act which provided for the government of the new west was passed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation in 1871 and
applied only to the old northwest, a region comprising land west of New York, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Land could be acquired with as little capital as would be sufficient to
support life until the first crop was harvested. In the Northwest Territory, the law set aside to be sold or rented, land to furnish money for schools.
Colonel Kinney never forgot his first view of Milwaukee
seen from the boat. The cheap rough wooden houses hurriedly put up to supply the demand for dwellings were arranged in rows with few trees in evidence. People had come down to the wharf's to see the vessel arrive.
The Colonel and his family had disembarked in bewilderment carrying only a few boxes and bundles. Although poor in worldly goods, Asa and the other settlers were rich in courage, enterprise and industry. The main
part of the town lay to the north reached by trudging through muddy streets flanked by weeds and prairie grass. The horizon could be seen in the distance where each home-seeker hoped to secure a farm of some size
and easily become the owner.
Prior to 1834, Milwaukee was only a trading station. With a survey of public lands and platting of the townsite in 1835, Milwaukee became known and talked about. The following
year, 1836, Wisconsin territory segregated from Michigan and it was during this year that Milwaukee experienced a boom. Speculative fever brought an influx of immigrants, Asa Kinney among them. Every man was full of
hope and
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